Share a mistake that turned your future pottery in a new direction. | Sept. 25, 2012

Mistakes......... boy is ceramics ever FILLED with opportunities to make them. Sometimes I feel that I have made every one that is possible over the past 40+ years. A dubious accomplishment!

But sometimes......... sometimes......... that "mistake" actually works out as a doorway that leads to something great.

Share a mistake that turned your future pottery in a new direction...

What mistake opened a new door for you?

Check out joining the Potters Council ( www.potterscouncil.org ) for more networking possibilities, peer mentoring opportunities, discounts on books, magazines, and DVDs, health insurance, credit card merchant programs, and many other member benefits.

John BaymoreImmediate Past President; Potters CouncilProfessor of Ceramics; New Hampshire Insitute of Art

I hope some one has had better luck with mistakes, I have never been able to duplicate a mistake or develop it further, always turns into a dead end. But I am a extremely goal oriented person and might not have given it the attention it needed if I was already involved in another project. Denice

I bought a wheel on a whim in High schools and dropped my flying lessons after solo and the rest is history. I think my parent may have felt that was a mistake.Turns out it was the best decision of my life.
Mark

While trimming a bowl one day, I screwed up and was about to toss it all into reclaim but I thought that it was a shame because it had such a nicely shaped and strong rim. I cut off about 2 inches from the rim and set it aside. After trimming the rest of my work, I was going to go home When someone reminded me that the marathon was still going strong (NYC) which meant I could not drive and cross the route.

Then I remembered the rim and thought I would wait it out an play with the rim. i used it as a frame for a flattish face. I sculpted a tree-like body to it, and fantasized about tree spirits, eventually writing a story about them and making many more. That was 15 years ago, and I recently met an ex-neighbor who talked about the one she purchased. I will try to dig out a photo.

Attached Files

I showed up at art class one day and had forgotten my pallete. So with no paints the teacher handed me a bag of clay and a rolling pin and told me see what I could do with it. That was about a year ago. The only thing I have painted on since was a piece of pottery.